Israel’s Withdrawal from Gaza Strip ‘political Matter,’ Burns Says

In a statement issued at his headquarters at E1 Ballah, Egypt, Maj. Gen. E. L. M. Burns, commander of the United Nations Emergency Force, said that Israel’s withdrawal or failure to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip was “a political matter” over which he had no direct responsibility. He announced that Israel troops in the Sinai Peninsula would be withdrawn a further 25 kilometers (about 25 miles) today and Yugoslav elements of the UN force would take over the evacuated zone.